Effective power in France had long been wielded by the Carolingian mayors of the palace, but the revolt that followed the death of Charles Martel in 741 made it wise for his sons Carloman and Pippin III the Short, in 743, to place Childeric III, a Merovingian of questionable legitimacy, on the Frankish throne, which had been vacant since 737, so that they could dissemble their authority behind his name. Carloman entered a monastery in 747, and, when Pippin felt sufficiently secure to have himself elected king of the Franks (751), Childeric was deposed, tonsured, and confined in the monastery of Sithiu (St. Bertin), near Saint-Omer.

Learn More in these related articles:

c. 688 Oct. 22, 741 Quierzy-sur-Oise [France] mayor of the palace of Austrasia (the eastern part of the Frankish kingdom) from 715 to 741. He reunited and ruled the entire Frankish realm and stemmed the Muslim invasion at Poitiers in 732. His byname, Martel, means “the hammer.”

c. 714 September 24, 768 Saint-Denis, Neustria [now in France] the first king of the Frankish Carolingian dynasty and the father of Charlemagne. A son of Charles Martel, Pippin became sole de facto ruler of the Franks in 747 and then, on the deposition of Childeric III in 751, king of the Franks....